To: H-War <h-war@h-net.msu.edu>
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 02:44:34 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: REVIEW: Setzekorn on Macri, 'Clash of Empires in South China: The
Allied Nations' Proxy War with Japan, 1935-1941'
Franco David Macri. Clash of Empires in South China: The Allied
Nations' Proxy War with Japan, 1935-1941. Modern War Studies Series.
Lawrence University Press of Kansas, 2012. 480 pp. $45.00 (cloth),
ISBN 978-0-7006-1877-4.
Reviewed by Eric Setzekorn (George Washington University)
Published on H-War (July, 2013)
Commissioned by Margaret Sankey
Given the tens of thousands of existing titles on the Second World
War, it is difficult to uncover promising areas for new research.
_Clash of Empires in South China_ by Franco David Macri finds such a
fresh topic, detailing the turbulent and influential period from 1937
to 1941, when Great Britain, Canada, and the United States became
politically and logistically involved in the Sino-Japanese conflict,
paving the road to the Pacific war. Although Macri's effort is
commendable and highly professional, the overly ambitious integration
of a wide range of political and military affairs and a shifting
focus limit the book's value to academic niches rather than general
readers.
Macri's primary argument is that the Western nations of Britain,
Canada, and the United States engaged in a "proxy war" with Japan
from 1937 to 1941, by encouraging Chinese resistance, in hopes of
deterring future Japanese aggression. Embedded in this strategy was a
geopolitical belief that creating ties between Western nations,
China, and the sometimes allied Soviet Union would present a credible
"collective security" system in Asia, providing security while
minimizing military burdens. Macri argues that both of these policies
backfired, resulting in the short term in an increasingly isolated
and belligerent Japan, which massively expanded the war in 1941, and
in the long term leading to a breakdown of traditional balance of
power systems in East Asia. This is an interesting thesis, but
Macri's attempt to prove it is burdened by shifting thematic
approaches and discontinuous subject areas, making it difficult for
the reader to engage with the argument.
Macri uses five historical approaches that, while all related to the
primary argument, are never sufficiently or convincingly developed.
Each approach is worthy of a standalone work in its own right, but
mashed together it becomes difficult to identify core ideas. First,
_Clash of Empires_ functions as a military history of the
Sino-Japanese War, with detailed descriptions of several battles,
accompanied with the full regalia of operational maps featuring
division movements noted by a thicket of arrows and boxes. The
multiple battles of Changsha are prominently featured as part of
Macri's attempt to highlight effective combat performance by Chinese
troops, if decently supplied and well led. Second, the book is a
diplomatic history narrative of high-level politics in London,
Washington, and Ottawa, built on excellent primary sources and a
nuanced reading of Western governments' China policy. Third, the work
is a history of a city, Hong Kong, highlighting the importance of
Hong Kong in Asian trade patterns and describing in detail the
defensive plans made prior to 1941. Fourth, _Clash__ of Empires_ is
an economic history, delving into the complicated wartime economic
arrangements, especially the widespread smuggling of oil and weapons
into China, and rare minerals, like tungsten, out of China. Lastly,
Macri's study is a history of China, and suggests that the KMT
(Kuomintang) military and political structure was more effective than
is generally realized in opposing the Japanese between 1938 and 1941.
Each of these approaches is valuable in its own right but placed
together, it is difficult for the reader to maintain a narrative or
analytical focus with so much going on.
The most original and articulate research in the book is an
examination of the role played by Canada from May to December 1940.
Macri shows a deft touch in pulling together personal papers,
Canadian government records, and the role of private groups, such as
the Canadian Institute of International Affairs. These records show
how Canadian interests, by leveraging close connections with both the
British and Americans, were able to smooth the transfer of Western
power in Asia from embattled Britain to the United States. Subtle
Canadian diplomatic maneuvering succeeded in maintaining logistical
support to the Chinese Army and Air Force, and acted to cement the
emerging Anglo-American strategic partnership. The prime minister of
Canada, Mackenzie King, comes across as savvy, farsighted, and at
times ruthless, such as during the deployment of Canadian troops to
Hong Kong in spite of a lack of adequate defenses.
Another bright spot of Macri's scholarship is his articulation of the
multifaceted role of Hong Kong during the 1937-41 period. After the
defeat of Chinese forces in the Yangtze River Valley in 1937-38, and
the isolation of Shanghai, Hong Kong was the most important link
between China and the outside world, and an important symbol of
British political resolve in Asia. After the Japanese occupation of
Guangdong in 1939, Hong Kong was subjected to a variety of Japanese
pressure tactics, including searches of shipping coming into and out
of the colony. Acting without orders from London, Major General
Arthur Grasett, commander of British troops in Hong Kong, began an
extensive program of intelligence cooperation with Chinese forces in
order to protect the colony. This tentative partnership allowed small
numbers of British officers to be embedded in observer positions with
Chinese units to gather military intelligence, and a reciprocal
arrangement allowed the stationing of Chinese military signal
intercept teams inside Hong Kong territory.
A less successful aspect of Western policy involved the dispatch in
October 1941 of two Canadian infantry battalions, roughly two
thousand men, to reinforce Hong Kong. The reinforcement was designed
as a show of force toward Japan, in conjunction with increased
American support for the American Volunteer Group, aka Flying Tigers,
in China and the stationing of B-17 bombers in the Philippines. Macri
argues that the dispatch of the Canadian troops, C Force, was also
part of a larger strategy by the British and Canadians to obliquely
assist the Russians, then fighting the Germans outside Moscow, by
boosting Chinese morale and focusing Japanese attentions southward,
instead of into Siberia. In reality, C Force was compelled to defend
Hong Kong less than one month after arrival, and without its full
complement of equipment. In addition to suffering heavy casualties
during the battle of Hong Kong, December 8-25, 1941, the men of C
Force spent over three and a half years as prisoners of war.
Throughout the book, a number of small but frustrating elements that
should have been picked up in copyediting slipped through. For
example, on page 179, Macri notes that the Japanese captured several
AFVs in November 1939, but since an "AFV" is not defined in the text,
listed in the index, or detailed in the abbreviations, I can only
guess at what it means. The very concept of a "proxy war" itself,
which is included in the title, is never defined or examined, a
potentially dangerous ambiguity considering that current readers
regularly hear of actions ranging from economic sanctions, drone
strikes, and cyber attacks as "proxy wars." Unnecessary hedging of
assertions through poor phrasing, "somewhat successful," "somewhat
coordinated," and "somewhat collaborative," dilutes the thesis and
leaves the reader confused. Sourcing is very solid in the diplomatic
history segments, but citations in the military history portions are
questionable; citations for the important battle of Changsha are
built on the less than solid ground of _New York Times_ reports.
I hope that _Clash of Empires_ will be only the first of a series of
books that will delve into the 1937-41 period in China and East Asia,
using any of the numerous historical approaches highlighted by Macri,
but I have a hard time recommending the book because I am unsure who
it is suitable for. _Clash of Empires_ does not fit easily into any
of the conventional fields of academic scholarship, and is too
detailed for popular interest. Diplomatic historians of Canada are
perhaps the group that can most benefit from the book, and historians
of the British Empire should find _Clash of Empires_ an intriguing
addition to their collections. I hope that in future works, Macri can
refine several key narratives into more specific works because there
is great academic potential in his insightful, relevant research of
the 1937-41 period in China, but only if the focus is crystal clear.
Citation: Eric Setzekorn. Review of Macri, Franco David, _Clash of
Empires in South China: The Allied Nations' Proxy War with Japan,
1935-1941_. H-War, H-Net Reviews. July, 2013.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=38605
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States
License.
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